The Minister of Health and Social Protection, Amine Tahraoui, affirmed that the prices of medicines are governed by the pricing rules provided for in the decree of December 18, 2013, which have not changed for several years. This decree includes several criteria, including the manufacturing margin and profit margins for distributors and pharmacists.
During the presentation of his ministry’s budget to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the minister stressed that it is necessary to review these criteria, comparing them with those of foreign countries similar to Morocco, in order to understand how this margin affects the formation of drug prices and seek to regulate it.
He added that countries such as France, Spain, as well as Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia are used as references to make these comparisons and regulate drug prices. The comparison concerns seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, which is also based on this method. This means that prices will be compared directly with seven countries and indirectly with more than twenty other countries, specifying that the comparison method will also be reviewed in the near future.
Regarding the increase in medicine prices in relation to citizens’ purchasing power, Tahraoui indicated that the ministry is trying to address this problem by adopting measures aimed at significantly reducing the price of medicines. He recalled that during the 2024 finance law, a significant tax reduction was applied to the prices of around 4,500 medicines, both original and generic.
The minister also specified that these efforts will be strengthened and that a new decree, providing for the reduction of the prices of 169 medicines, including medicines for chronic diseases, will be published in the coming days. He stressed that the most effective solution to solve this problem remains to promote local production, especially of generic medicines, in order to increase the national capacity of this industry.
Tahraoui insisted that health security is, in general, an objective and a priority for the government during the 2025 fiscal year.
The minister also addressed the causes of stock shortages of medicines, specifying that these shortages are often due to factors outside the control of the ministry. Among the main reasons, he mentioned that many medicines are experiencing shortages in exporting countries, the absence of local production of generic medicines in Morocco, as well as the increase in demand for certain medicines at specific periods.
Despite these constraints, he added that the ministry is making efforts to meet the needs of health establishments and citizens, notably through reforms, in particular the legal regulation of this sector, and the efforts provided by different partners, notably the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with permanent funding intended for the purchase of medicines.
He noted that these efforts are reflected in the 2025 finance bill, currently under discussion, which provides an envelope of nearly 1.8 billion dirhams for medicines. The minister indicated that the ministry is moving towards strengthening generic drugs, which constitute an important solution.
In addition, the minister also stressed that pharmaceutical policy and management of drug stocks are important issues. There is no doubt that pharmaceutical policy is part of the national strategy for the supply and distribution of medicines and medical devices, and this strategy is accompanied by a series of measures and initiatives.
This involves in particular the increase in the budget allocated to medicines, which will reach 1.8 billion dirhams within the framework of the current finance bill, as well as the announcement of several public calls for tenders for the purchase of medicines in shortage.
The minister also mentioned the computer system governing medicines, which makes it possible to monitor their distribution from the centers to the regions and integrate them into the computer system in order to manage stocks. He specified that the objective is to extend this system to all regions, which will make it possible to monitor the entry and exit of medicines, as well as to better identify shortages in the regions and the possibility of filling them with others. regions, thereby helping to make drug markets more precise.
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